The Legacy of Lex Luthor
by Aurora Sanders
Summary: For Lena, hearing that she was biologically a Luthor hurt for more reasons than the family she'd come from. For Kara, it didn't really make a difference, but she was determined to protect her best friend no matter what. (Do not read if recovery from a dysfunctional sibling relationship is not your cup of tea.)
1. Personal

Lena stared at her adoptive mother, fingers curling into fists. "So, I really am a Luthor." Truthfully, that was the less alarming part of the truth. The more alarming part was how her mother had dropped this bomb when she was in jail — proving that she could still manipulate Lena despite being not in a position of power. And, of course, what being biologically a Luthor meant.

"We're the only two Luthors left. And we need to be there for each other," Lillian's chains rattled as she reached across the table to touch her daughter.

"No." Lena pulled her hands away and stood up. "How could you have let this happen?"

"Lena, darling, I don't know what you're saying…"

"You don't get to call me that when I was a human game of chess in that household," Lena stood up and backed away from her mother. "Sure, I was plenty interesting. But just as entertainment, and as practice for the future or the better child. Never as a person."

"Lionel, you were his favorite child," Lillian pleaded with Lena. "And Lex, he loved you."

Lena rolled her eyes and walked to the door of the cell. "If you still truly think that, you don't deserve to know what Lex's love was _really_ like."

Kara walked into Lena's office at L-Corp and nearly dropped her bag of bagels. Lena was curled up on the couch in front of her chess board, shaking and crying.

Kara had seen Lena's more vulnerable side before, when they were in her apartment, but never at L-Corp. It seemed like there were two sides to Lena — the tough side and the side Kara saw. Of course, Kara understood _why_ that was the case, so she didn't begrudge Lena for it.

"Lena, honey, what happened?" The pet name slipped out without Kara really intending it to. She wanted Lena to know she was loved right now.

Lena looked up at Kara's eyes, and then at the bagels. "My mother."

Kara bit her lip and sat the bagels down on the table, pushing the chess board to the side. "What happened? She's still safe in jail, right?"

"I don't really think anywhere is safe from my mother, even if she's in jail. There are still all the fanatic followers of CADMUS," Lena sighed. "But yes. She is. Yet, she somehow found a way to hurt me while in a jail cell."

Kara handed Lena a cinnamon-sugar bagel, Lena's favorite kind. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"She didn't even mean to," Lena shook her head, choking back tears. "But I learned today that I wasn't adopted into the Luthors. Lex's — _our_ father had an affair with my mother. Lionel just brought me home because my mother couldn't keep me."

Kara absentmindedly pet Lena's hair while she ate the bagel. After a few minutes, she put it down and turned to face Kara.

"I don't know. I guess… before, I could tell myself that of course it was horrible, but it wasn't really _incest._ He wasn't really my brother, because we didn't share blood. And at least that way, it hurt less and made me feel less evil."

"Lee, you're not the wicked one," Kara stroked Lena's hand. "You never did anything wrong,"

"I wanted approval. Acceptance into the Luthor family. I did things — " Lena got choked up, and Kara transitioned to rubbing her back. She had to be careful not to break anything.

"Things that anyone would have done. Well, anyone who had an adopted brother eyeing her like that. It was all him, Lee. It was nothing to do with you," Kara muttered.

"Nothing to do with me," Lena repeated, leaning on Kara's shoulder. Thankfully, the position wasn't too uncomfortable, even when Lena fell asleep from the crying and stress of the day.

 _What are we going to do?_ Kara thought as she ate a raisin bagel. A quote from a show she'd watched the first episode on Netflix the other day occurred to her. "Knowing it's real means you've got to make a decision. One, keep denying it. Or two… do something about it."

Lex Luthor was behind bars, so there wasn't much more Kara could do about him. What she could do, however, was defeat CADMUS. Because now it was even more personal than ever.


	2. Happy Hour

When Kara walked into the alien bar for happy hour, she was shocked to see Winn and Mon-El _still_ wondering whether Lena knew something about Project CADMUS.

"Just, I don't know, hon," an already slightly drunk Winn was saying as Mon-El poured him another drink. "She's a Luthor. It could be a ploy to keep her out of jail."

Rolling her eyes, Kara sat down next to Winn. "Trust me, it's not. I know Lena. And plus, why would she destroy Medusa if she was part of CADMUS?"

"To double cross you?" Mon-El proposed, leaning against the bar, while Winn snorted. "You're just saying that because you have a crush on her."

"I do _not_!" Kara protested. That was the first time Winn had said anything like that, and it was ridiculous.

"Crinkle," Alex snorted from across the bar. "She's lying."

Kara knew to pick her battles. "Okay, so maybe I do have a bit of a crush on her. But it's not like I can get in a relationship with someone with all of the Supergirl and CADMUS stuff going on."

"Winn's dating Mon-El," Alex pointed out. "And if the assistant head of the DEO can date one of the agents, I think Supergirl can date a CEO."

"I'm not good at relationships," Kara muttered, looking down. Sure, Lucy had moved on a while after dumping James — with Kara's own sister, which was still weird to her — but Kara didn't think she would be very good at starting a new relationship right now. She didn't fall for someone easily, and falling for James hadn't worked out. They had different moral codes, and that was pretty significant when you were a superhero.

"That's what I said before I realized I liked Lucy," Maggie said, casting an affectionate look over at her girlfriend. "Turns out I just wasn't good at relationships with guys because I didn't even like them."

"Yeah, well why are you encouraging me to admit I have feelings for Lena Luthor when Winn thinks she's part of CADMUS?" Kara snapped.

"Hey," Alex raised her hands in the air. "I'm not the one who thinks Lena's a villain. That's all Winn."

"But you don't think Lena's trouble _at all_?" Kara pressed.

"Listen, sis. I know better by now than to try to keep you from going after something you want. I'm just warning you, though. Lena Luthor might not be trouble all by herself, but her family? They'll bring a storm."

"Oh, I know that, alright," Kara muttered, while she stirred her drink. Thankfully, the one who would bring the biggest storm for her and Lena was currently in maximum-security prison.

Lena looked at the UNKNOWN CALLER indicator on her phone, wondering whether she should pick it up or not. A lot of the time, UNKNOWN CALLER meant Lex or some mysterious person who wanted to threaten her. But both Lex and the leader of CADMUS were in jail, so she figured it was safe enough to pick up the phone.

"Lena! Hello. It's Supergirl," came the voice on the other end of the phone.

"Supergirl!" Lena breathed a sigh of relief. "What's going on? Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing at all, actually," Supergirl said. "Well, actually Kara Danvers mentioned you were having a hard time today, and I'm with some friends at an alien bar. I wondered if you'd like to join us."

"An alien bar?" Lena asked. She wasn't even going to comment on Supergirl's mysterious connection with Kara Danvers. How much had Kara mentioned to Supergirl? Was it part of Supergirl's job description to hang out with rape survivors on a Friday night?

"Yes. Is that a problem? I'm sure they'll be fine with you after what happened with you sabotaging Project Medusa. You saved all of their lives!" Supergirl told her.

Lena was hesitant, but she didn't want to turn down a chance to get out of her apartment and spend some time with one of her only friends in National City. "Okay."

Lena's initial welcome to the bar wasn't the most pleasant one. A blonde woman literally _hissed_ at her, and was glared at sternly by her companion, who Lena recognized as a NCPD detective.

"Quiet, love. She saved you," Maggie said, while the blonde rolled her eyes.

By the time she reached Supergirl's party, though, things were a little calmer. The aliens who hadn't reacted positively were at least willing to be neutral to her once it was evident she was coming to spend time with an alien.

"Lena! It's so nice to see you," Supergirl said, smiling, and pointed to her companions in turn. "This is Alex and Lucy, they work at the DEO with me. And that's Winn, and Mon-El. He comes from Daxom, which was a sister planet to Krypton. And that's—"

"James Olsen. I know," Lena said, reaching a hand out to shake James's. "Photographer from the Daily Planet. Your photography is amazing."

"Of Supergirl, or of his cousin?" James asked with a smile. He was holding Lena's hand a little longer than necessary, and when Lena saw Alex exchanging a look with her girlfriend, she dropped it.

"Of both. You make Supergirl shine even more than she already does," Lena said, smiling at Supergirl.

"Thank you," Supergirl said, walking closer to Lena and putting a hand on her arm. "Would you like to check out the selection of drinks, Lena?"

"Sure, I hope there's one I can metabolize," Lena said, laughing, and walked away with Supergirl.

"Dude, are you into Lena Luthor?" Winn hissed to James.

"She's nice, but I think she might act that way around everyone," James shrugged. "Besides, I think I like having friends better than having a girlfriend."

"Yeah, but with Kara moving on…"

"It's fine, Winn," James cut him off. "I just don't want her falling for someone who only acts a _little_ more flirty around her than she does around everyone else."

"So do you always wear that crest and suit, or only when you know you're going to see me?" Lena joked, looking at the S crest.

"If I told you that, I'd have to kill you," Supergirl said, smiling slightly at Lena's antics.


	3. Another Team Up

"I just don't understand why writing an article about how disabled kids benefit from accommodations in school is bad!" Kara sighed in frustration. "We could get quotes, show people how bad an idea it would be to take away the thing that's keeping these kids from dropping out…"

"Because it won't sell, Miss Danvers," Snapper snapped, true to his name. "Nobody cares, and we need something that will get people's attention. Not a sob story that won't change anything."

"But we could encourage people to write to their representatives—" Kara called out, but Snapper was already walking away. She groaned and leaned against the wall. At least this job didn't take as much time out of being Supergirl as working for Cat had.

"Having trouble with Snapper?" James had walked in.

Kara nodded, and immediately walked forward to hug James. "It's just ridiculous. I have so many good ideas but he won't publish most of them because they're not interesting! But I can make people care about things!"

"That sucks. But, I came in here to…"

"Of course," Kara sprung back, fixing her shirt. "Yes, Mr. Olsen. What did you want to talk about?"

"I wanted to tell you that you should call Clark," James said, as Snapper came walking back into the office. He turned up the volume of the television.

"See, this. This is what people care about. And Miss Danvers, if you can get an exclusive from Supergirl about what she's going to do about this, I might consider running it." He pointed with the remote to where a reporter was talking on the screen.

Kara fixed her glasses and looked at the screen.

 _"Police say Lillian and Lex Luthor have escaped custody and they have been unable to catch them. Anyone with knowledge of their whereabouts is implored to contact them immediately, as this could have devastating effects for National City."_

Kara gasped, and looked at James. He gave a nod that would've been imperceptible if not for her powerful vision.

She turned back to Snapper. "I've… got to go."

"By all means. Get that exclusive from Supergirl," There was almost a smile on Snapper's face.

As Kara ran out of the office, Snapper turned to James. "She does know she's not fooling anyone, doesn't she?"

"I'm not sure what you mean," James said. "Well, Snapper, I've got to get back to my office."

 _If I was in charge of CADMUS and I'd just broken free from maximum security prison, what would I make sure happened?_ Kara thought as she ripped off her shirt in the alley behind CatCo. Fists clenching, she realized, _I'd go after the woman who sabotaged Project Medusa and didn't want to side with me._

It was time to do something.

Kara arrived at L-Corp just in time to see Lena being tipped over the balcony she'd installed recently. She was terrified, but she didn't have any time to wait. She dove down, catching Lena in midair.

"S-Supergirl," Lena leaned against the house crest on Kara's chest. "You saved me."

"I'm glad I was right," Kara said as she flew back up to the balcony with Lena in her arms. "Dropped something?" she asked the men, who ran away instantly.

"How did you know?" Lena asked when she was back on the ground.

"I heard that Lillian and Lex had escaped. I figured since you'd sabotaged Medusa, she'd come after you as soon as she was out of prison." Kara said, looking over Lena. "Are you okay? Anything broken or twisted?"

Lena nodded, but didn't meet Kara's eyes. "Lex escaped, too?"

Kara bit her lip and nodded. "Yes."

Lena slumped down on the balcony. "I'm sorry. You should probably leave, Supergirl. I don't think you really signed up to see me like this when you saved me."

"I don't have to leave. Besides, you look like you could use someone to help you deal with that knowledge," Kara kneeled down next to Lena. "Lena, I know about what happened with Lex."

Lena looked up, tears welling up in her eyes. "How? Oh… Kara. You're… you." Lena shook her head in irritation at herself. "You're Kara Danvers."

"I'm also known as Kara Zor-El to my cousin," Kara smiled down at her.  
"I always thought there was something off about you," Lena shook her head. "The way you hesitated so much with the alien device… How did you get it to give you a human result, anyway?"

"Zapped it with my laser eyes," Kara told her, somehow managing to keep a straight face.

"And I didn't even notice?"

"I've learned to be sneaky," Kara said. "But Lee, let's get you inside. You need warmth."

Lena watched as Kara's Supergirl demeanor melted away despite her still having the crest on her chest. A few minutes later (Kara was still fast, and now she didn't have to hide it), Lena and Kara were on the couch with mugs of tea steaming.

"So how does your Kryptonian physiology affect your ability to drink hot things?" Lena was asking, momentarily distracted from Lex's escape by the ability to actually talk to an alien who was already her friend as Kara.

"Um," Kara looked at the tea. "I can drink it sooner without getting burned? The main thing with temperature is that I don't tend to get sick, so if I do catch something my body temperature goes way up. That hardly happens, though," Kara set her tea down on the table and startled. "I forgot to call Clar— Kal!"

"It's okay, I'm sure he would have called you first if he really needed to talk…" Lena started.

"His arch nemesis escaped from jail and is probably working with _my_ current arch nemesis. I think it's important that I get in touch with him!" Kara said, unzipping a pocket Lena hadn't noticed in her suit. At least it had only been fifteen minutes.

When Kara grabbed her phone, there were texts from Kal instead of a call. He was headed to National City to strategize with her, because it had been determined that the headquarters of CADMUS were closer to National City, and that was probably where Lex would be going.

CADMUS had put lethal weapons inside of someone they didn't even care about helping that much. Who knew what they would do for Lillian Luthor's favorite child?


	4. Doubles

Lena Luthor woke up at 4AM the next morning. Before Lex had escaped prison, she'd been able to tell herself that he was hundreds of miles away and in maximum security prison, and could never hurt her again.

Now, he could be only a few away. And while she'd been a human game of chess to her brother and nothing more, he'd always loved chess ever so much.

Pushing away the nightmares, she took her phone from her bedside table and scrolled through her notifications to see if there had been any developments. There weren't any, except for a message Kara had sent her after she'd left last night.

Kara Danvers: Come to DEO headquarters soon if you can. You'll probably need to explain yourself a bit, but Kal agrees that it would be helpful to have someone who knows a lot about the Luthor family.

Somehow it seemed silly now to have donut emojis in Kara's name, even though Lena knew her friend was still the same person. She just sometimes tore her shirt off and turned into Supergirl.

She knew she might not be welcomed at the DEO, but it was 4AM and she wasn't going to get any more sleep. She checked the address Kara had texted her and walked down to her car.

* * *

Director Henshaw was surprised that Lena had arrived so early to the DEO, but he directed her to a room where a list of "sightings" of her mother and brother was displayed on a computer.

"There isn't really anyone here yet to talk about the main problem," he said with a shrug as he left the room. "I'll tell Superman and Supergirl you're here when they arrive, and meanwhile maybe you can at least eliminate some of these photos that _aren't_ sightings."

When Director Henshaw left, Lena turned to the computer and tentatively tapped the mouse so she could open the sorting program. Somehow, when Kara had said she'd be helpful at the DEO, she hadn't thought her "helpfulness" would involve sorting out photos of her rapist from people who just sort of looked like him.

Thankfully, all of the ten first photos she checked were laughably _not_ Lex. Her brother had black hair, not dirty brown, and his face did not look like that.

About twenty photos in, there was a knock on the doorframe. Lena turned around, expecting to see Hank or one of the Supers. Instead, she was surprised to see Winn instead — and he was also surprised to see her.

"Lena _Luthor?_ " He looked her up and down, as if he could tell by her outfit why she was at the DEO. "What are you doing here?"

She wasn't imagining it this time — he didn't like her. When she'd been at the bar with Kara and the others, he'd kept a safe distance from her and had kept on shooting glances at her like he was afraid she had a Kryptonite knife she was going to use on Kara.

Lena sat up straighter. "Kara wanted me to come to the DEO to help, and I woke up early so I came here and Director Henshaw wanted me to look at these photos. They're supposed sightings of Lex and Lillian—"

"I know what those photos are. I was going to sort through them today using my facial recognition program. And — _Kara?_ " Winn raised an eyebrow. Clearly, he didn't think Supergirl would trust Lena enough to reveal her civilian identity. Or maybe he thought she would, but that it was a bad idea.

"I figured it out," Lena shrugged. "Last night."

"So she didn't tell you voluntarily?" Winn rolled his eyes.

Lena leaned back in her chair and looked away from him, frustrated. "Listen, Winn. My last name may be Luthor, but that doesn't mean I'm some monster hell-bent on destroying aliens. I feel just as..." She stopped when Winn eyed her doubtfully. "I'm sure I feel worse about my mother and brother escaping than you do."

"Well then," Winn shook his head and walked out of the room.

"Wait, didn't you want to do something with these photos?" Lena called after him.

Winn, standing in the doorway, rolled his eyes. "It looks like Director Henshaw figured a Luthor could do my job better than me, so I'll go find something else to do instead."

Lena sighed in frustration, and banged her head down on the keyboard. When she lifted her head up, she saw that her keyboard-smashing had either pressed the D or right key, and the monitor had flickered to another photo. And this one _was_ Lex. Standing near the Eiffel Tower of all places, with a cheeky grin.

Lena couldn't help but analyze the photo. Sure, it was the same stupid grin he'd taunted her with all of the times Lillian had dragged her to jail to visit him before she'd moved to National City, but he looked — healthier. Happier, and less unstable. Well, of course he did, he'd gotten out of _jail._ But Lena guessed that Lex would still have his evil whims and ideals, he would just be more stable when plotting them out. Which was good news for Project CADMUS and terrible news for the aliens in National City.

She flagged the photo and moved onto the next, which was _another_ real photo of Lex. This one was scarier — he was on the street outside the National City art gallery that had gotten some break-ins in the past month. And… impossible, if the photo from Paris was recent and Project CADMUS hadn't figured out how to transport themselves faster than humanly possible.

Lena clicked back to the photo from Paris to check the time stamp, and found that it was within an hour of the one in National City. Which of course it was — the photos _had_ been sorted by time.

They _did_ have a problem.


	5. Not a Luthor

Twenty minutes later, Kara Danvers arrived at the DEO, looking much less tired than Lena had. She was followed by her cousin, who had decided that his enmity with J'onn could be put on hold considering that his archenemy had escaped from prison and was now collaborating with Kara's archenemy.

Winn rushed up to Kara and Kal as soon as they arrived. "Did you guys know Lena Luthor is here? She said you invited her, but I wasn't sure…"

"I did invite her, Winn. We thought it would be good to have someone who knows a lot about the Luthor family on our side," Kara said sharply, and Kal nodded.

"But… she's a Luthor," Winn stuttered.

"In name only," Kal told him. "Trust me, I've gone head to head with Luthors, and Lena may be in charge of L-Corp, but she's not one of them,"

"Oh, uh, okay," Winn shut his mouth and walked back to his project.

"Why does he listen to you but not me?" Kara signed to Kal.

"I mean, you know," Kal shrugged. "It'll be okay as soon as I clear out of here."

"Please don't, I need your help," Kara sighed.

Mon-El also had a question for Kara. "Kara! Uh, oh, hi, Superman. Listen, Kara, one of the girls I was serving at the bar last night called me daddy, and I don't know what it means. Was she flirting with me?"

Kara chuckled. "Maybe ask Alex or Winn that question, buddy, because I still don't really get it. And please don't make Winn think you were _hoping_ she was flirting with you."

"Why would I be hoping she was flirting with me when Winn and I are… committed?" Mon-El asked, confused.

"Ask Alex that one too. She has a lot of experience with Earth guys being assholes," Kara said, and Mon-El shrugged and went on his way.

"Do you get questions like that from him a lot of the time?" Kal asked as they walked into the center of the DEO.

"It's gone down to only like five per day," Kara shrugged. It wasn't that annoying. Kal wouldn't really understand — he'd grown up steeped in human culture, whereas Kara had arrived on Earth at the prime school grade for mockery of anyone who was different. She was glad she could help Mon-El figure out things about Earth. One of the things he had found hardest to grasp was why people on Earth had problems with men dating men and women dating women. The "free love" society of Daxam endeared the planet to Kara a little now.

"Sounds like a handful. Just think, that would've been me if your ship hadn't got knocked off course." Kal smiled.

"I only think about that every day," Kara laughed. Joking about her ship's situation was the way she and Kal coped. Until he'd already been all grown up for a few years, he'd thought he was the only Kryptonian on Earth, and he'd assumed Kara had either gotten lost in space and been terrified or died from being sucked into a black hole. He confessed he hadn't known which one was more terrifying. They didn't talk much about that.

J'onn walked towards them, along with a haggard looking Lena Luthor. Kara frowned. She'd known that _of course_ her help last night wouldn't have made Lena fall all better about the escape of her mother and brother, but she'd hoped it would have at least helped Lena get some sleep. As it was, it looked like Lena had been up for longer than she had.

"Hey, Lena," She stepped closer to Lena, worried. "How are you holding up?"

"How I'm doing doesn't really matter," Lena snapped. "What matters is where Lex is. And we're not any closer to knowing that."

"Um, okay…" Kara bit her lip. "You know, it's really not that likely that we _would_ know where he is. He's probably in hiding."

"He's not. Or at least, quite a few people who look like him aren't," Lena pushed some photos towards Kara, hands shaking.

The photos showed Lex in various locations around the United States — and a few international locations. Or at least, they seemed to. The time stamps on the photos made it impossible that they were all Lex, unless CADMUS had some sort of alien transporting device — two photos were even at the same minute as each other but states away.

"Maybe the photos are doctored?" Kara suggested, knowing that was probably not the answer.

"I had Agent Schott check the photos for any signs that they were doctored. All of the backgrounds and shadows match up, as well as more complicated things I must admit I don't really understand. The only thing doctored in the photos was, presumably, the cellular structure of the people in them. And it's a large-scale problem, too," J'onn answered.

"I knew CADMUS had agents all over the country and even in other countries, but this…" Lena shuddered, and even without J'onn's psychic powers, Kara could guess what she was thinking. _But I didn't know there were so many, or so many willing to dedicate themselves to Lex like this._

* * *

A few miles outside of National City, Lillian Luthor sat in a sofa across from a blonde with an S on her chest. The building was decorated in a way that made it evident it had been made for a Luthor — both Lillian and the blonde were in soft chairs they practically sunk into, there were several landscape paintings on the walls, and the remnants of a delicious meal were on a banquet table in another room. It was as comfortable as an underground bunker could be, considering that the most significant members of Project CADMUS needed to be away from prying eyes.

"Why do you take the stance on aliens that you do, Supergirl?" Lillian asked, peering at the blonde.

The blonde opened her mouth, and the voice of Kara Zor-El spilled out, passionate. "Not all aliens are like what conspiracy theorists want you to think. Lots of them are just like normal humans, but with a different country of origin. They want to be happy and to live a life free of the influence of people who believe they're polluting our country. As someone who grew up with humans as my family, I'm one of these aliens."

"Good, good," Lillian reached over to stroke the blonde's curls. "You'll do a fine job."


End file.
